Leopold

Léopold is derived from the Old German elements liut, meaning “people,” and bald, meaning “bold” or “brave,” with its spelling later influenced by association with Latin leo, “lion.” The name was common among German royalty, first among the Babenbergs and later the Habsburgs; Saint Leopold, a 12th-century Babenberg margrave of Austria, is now regarded as the patron saint of that country. It was also borne by two Habsburg Holy Roman emperors and three kings of Belgium. In England, it has been used occasionally since the 19th century, first in honor of Queen Victoria’s uncle, a king of Belgium, after whom she named one of her sons, and later as the name of the main character, Leopold Bloom, in James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922).

Leopold moved from #844 to #909 for boys between 1924 and 1926. Its highest annual birth count came in 1916, with 79 births.